Turn of the Tide, one of India Art Fair’s official collateral events, celebrates 20 years of Khoj as an alternative arts incubation space

These days, Khoj studios is gearing up for a very special exhibition. Titled Turn of the Tide: 20/20 Artists for Khoj, the show celebrates 20 years of Khoj’s existence as a significant alternative arts incubation and experimentation space. And to mark this occasion, 20 contemporary artists, who have been a part of the ‘art lab’s journey — through residencies, workshops, exhibitions and community art projects — have come together to present their artworks. These works will then be put up for sale to support the continued work at Khoj.

I ask Mario D’Souza, curator at Khoj, about the interesting title of the show. “The turn of tide reflects many meanings. It could mean the idiomatic ‘reversal’. It could also imply a whole new direction or it could also mean the reinvention of what already exists,” he says. “What is a scene after all? It is the coming together of artists, in conversation with each other, and a peer group that is built on friendships.” It is these relationships and associations that form a thread through the show, as these are artists that Khoj has worked with, at various stages of their career, and has come to know well. That leaves the curators an open space to interpret, contemplate and understand the ‘new’ in these contemporary practices.

Many of the works, on display, have been created especially for Khoj, over the years, such as those by Benitha Perciyal, Prabhakar Pachpute, Sachin George Sebastian, Shailesh BR, Pranay Dutta, Sahil Naik and Sumakshi Singh. Dutta’s set of 20 ink paintings on erased photos, for instance, was first created at the Khoj International Workshop in Goa, and is an ongoing series for the artist. He intends to create videos, based on these blueprints. Sebastian is yet another artist, who first debuted with Khoj’s book-making residency. His works seek to remind the viewers of his early paper-cut collages.

Another thread that runs through the show is the focus on sculpture. According to D’Souza, Perciyal and Naik make a complete return to material practices. “Benitha makes sculptures with tree resin, incense, spices, among other materials. And Sahil creates his miniature sculptures in excruciating detail, using tiny bricks, tiles, wood and plaster,” says D’Souza. “Both of them are interested in the transition from the tangible, and in decay as a human condition.”

However, while one works with the presence of the human figurine, the other with structures devoid of them. Perciyal uses the fables, mentioned in the Bible, and Naik creates a narrative around the violence of being deprived of one’s home – such as those in Kurdi, Goa, who were evicted from their homes, so that a dam could be constructed on that land. It is juxtapositions such as these that can be seen through the show. “I think Prabhakar Pachpute is another artist, who works with large-scale murals and sculptures. He hails from a family of miners, and uses the darkness of mines and coal as a site to perform his elegies on land acquisitions and transformations,” says D’Souza. This examination of a fast-deteriorating world comes back constantly with works like Pallavi Paul’s relics of life on earth, which is a commentary on the geological impact of humanity.

Alongside Turn of the Tide, a limited-edition portfolio of ten curated black-and-white works, titled Wastelands, will also be displayed at Khoj. The works have been generously gifted by artists such as Amar Kanwar, Asim Waqif, Jyoti Bhatt, Nataraj Sharma, Navjot Altaf, Prajakta Potnis, the RAQS Media Collective, Riyas Komu, Seher Shah and Sudarshan Shetty.